Summary: we took a microscope objective to my camera, built a focus stacking rig, and then combined it all with a miniature lazy susan / turntable to create a 360 degree rotation animation of a microscopic thing (in this case a common green long-legged fly, which has some pretty spectacular colors).
Quick details:
- Each frame is a stack of 70 images
- 160 frames (about 2.25 degrees of rotation per frame)
- Final is the product of 11,200 frames (though we took well over 20,000 while testing/developing)
Gear setup:
- Fuji X-T1
- nameless eBay macro photography bellows
- nameless eBay RMS adapter
- AmScope PA4X microscope objective
- Arduino Nano
- Misc stepper motors and motor drivers
- Custom motion control rig for focus stack and rotation
